Tag Archives for coronavirus.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has 1.5 million N95 masks sitting in an Indiana warehouse.
And after discussions about what to do with the masks on Wednesday, it was concluded that “CBP has no plans to offer the masks to hard-hit hospitals, or hand them over to the Federal Emergency Management Agency…” Instead those will be given to the TSA. And CBP will acquire 1.5 million masks to replace those, competing with orders placed by hosptials.
Texas has become the latest state to impose restrictions on arriving airline passengers. And the Governor says that mandatory quarantine for passengers arriving from the New York area and New Orleans will be enforced by some of the state’s troopers.
Air travel isn’t going to open back up all at once, or evenly everywhere. It won’t be uniform even domestically, and it’ll happen in waves across the world. People will be afraid to fly. Some businesses will have gotten used to online meetings and won’t fly as much. The world of air travel is going to be very different as we (eventually) transition back into the air.
Two AirAsia pilots climbed out the window of their plane on Friday when they arrived in Delhi. Video shows one of them taking luggage from the other. They had learned a passenger on board might be infected with the novel coronavirus – or at least was sneezing, which isn’t commonly a symptom of COVID-19. No one on board actually had the virus.
A group that says it represents 325 employees at American Airlines ‘Skyview’ campus headquarters near the Dallas Fort Worth airport say their airline has been hostile to the idea as well, and are petitioning for jobs that can be done remotely to be permitted to do so, following the advice and request of local governments.
Airlines are worried about surviving. They have your cash. It may not be legal to keep it when flights are cancelled, but most customers will take what they are offered (future travel credit) and very few will complain to authorities.
Qatar Airways though has a better approach. They, too, want your cash. They want your future travel purchases when travel is again in the cards. They are honoring refunds but if you’ll take a credit instead they’ll give you a 10% bonus for taking a voucher. That’s creative and honors the customer.
With fewer flights, American Airlines is consolidating operations at its hubs in order to use fewer contractors. These contractors won’t get help if the airlines get a bailout. And with record telephone wait time, the airline continues layoffs of home-based reservations agents, who won’t get their jobs back with a bailout.
Many employees are scared for their jobs, interacting with customers in close quarters, and fearful to defy their bosses even as flight attendants report positive with COVID-19.
Both the government and U.S. carriers are considering a partial or total shutdown of the domestic airline industry. No final decision has been made yet on whether to move forward.
Airlines see themselves losing money. The TSA has been seeing screeners testing positive. Flight crew, too. And air traffic controllers – over the weekend New York airports closed for a few hours while New York TRACON was disinfected after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19. Here are 9 key considerations.
According to the Governor of Florida since the “federal government had not put any domestic travel restrictions into place, Florida would take the initiative.”
His order applies to air travel from New Jersey as well. It does not, apparently, apply to passengers arriving from the New York area on connecting flights. It also does not apply to flights from Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle.
My award booking partner Steve Belkin was traveling abroad for a month. He and his wife were in Mozambique. Do they come home to the virus outbreak or stay put? Risk infection but access medical care? Lots of Americans abroad faced similar questions, and they came up with a unique solution. Still others are encouraging older Americans to flee. What to do?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
